Sunday Morning Uni Watch

By Phil Hecken & the SMUW Crew
Follow @PhilHecken

Now…THAT is a lot of gold. OK, so Oregon did it Friday, but this is Iowa we’re talking about here. You know, the team that dresses like the Steelers (should) pretty much every week. But the past few years, like a few college teams out there, once a year the Hawkeyes dress up in a special uniform. This one was the banana special.

I thought it actually looked pretty good. I’m not sure if anyone thought this was a throwback, but it wasn’t. It was, however, an homage to a previous uniform, worn during the mid-1990s, which featured a bit of “winged” striping across the shoulders. That jersey, obviously, was black. But the new uniform went with black wings on a gold jersey.

So long as this is a one-and-done, I’m glad they wore it once. And now Iowa can go back to looking like a better version of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

And with that, I now turn this over to TJ, who will take you through the rest of the …

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Sunday Morning Uni Watch
By Terry Duroncelet, Jr.

From Thursday:

• Syracuse definitely lives up to their name. Also, it’s hard to see, but NC State wore their military appreciation uniforms in this game.

From Friday:

• Of course, Oregon was not to be outdone by the Orange, as evident in their game against Colorado.

• Miami played Virginia, and wore their mono-white uniforms made from recycled materials in collaboration with Parley. I loved the numerals they used; not just in terms of font, but also for the cool ribbed effect.

From Saturday:

• As I’m sure everyone’s aware of by now, Georgia was stunned by South Carolina on Saturday. What makes this game special however, was the fact that Gamecocks QB Ryan Hilinski honored his late brother Tyler Hilinski, the Washington State QB who took his own life in January of 2018, by wearing his jersey number (#3), against the (then, at least) #3 team in the nation, the Georgia Bulldogs (more here).

• Yikes. Okay, here’s the deal: I actually don’t mind the grey too much, but MAN, this matchup was still kind of a stinker. The only reason I’m not completely smoking this game is because of Iowa State’s cardinal pants, which at least helped to give a rough idea of who’s who.

• Now here’s an example of what a good-looking game looks like. I love the staggered white elements between Wisconsin and Michigan State.

• Athletic Gold (please no discourse on the color) facemasks for Arizona State. The game itself actually looked really good, and although the shadows suggest otherwise, Washington State’s pants were dark grey, not black.

• Sailor Bear returns!

• …Well, at least it looks less pieced-together than what the Bengals wear, so that’s a plus.

• Mono-orange for Tennessee.

• Indiana can make this decal permanent (and they should) and I would not be mad in the slightest.

• Fantastic all-blue uni for Air Force, and I feel everything but blue about it.

• Hard to beat a classic like this.

• BOILERMAKERS… IIIIIIIIN… SPAAAAACE, (okay, that was bad) But seriously, I dug Purdue’s moon landing uniforms (closer look at the patch, plus the commemorative coin they used).

• Now THIS is a looker 👀 I loved Mizzou’s helmets, and the overall game is well-put together.

• Benny doesn’t look to shabby in mono-orange.

• Left-side helmet numbers for Minnesota.

• It wouldn’t be much of an October in the uni-verse without some PFPS demonstrations. Nevada provides us with one.

• And moving over to Kentucky, Wildcats WR Lynn Bowden Jr. is wearing pink… eye black? Eye pink? Here’s another example, screenshot courtesy of Joshua Hinton. [Just don’t call it ‘pink eye’ — PH]

• Tulsa wore new blue helmets against Navy, and I will be the first to say they should keep these as an alternate choice –at the very-least– full-time!

• From Cassian Wykes: “Yale showed up at Dartmouth today wearing merit decals globbed together on one side. Perhaps it’s an example of the cliched “brick-by-brick” mantra. The Bulldogs used to use little bone-shaped stickers. Wish they’d go back to them.”

That’ll do it for Week 7! Lots of good games, and more is on the way. Hope everyone has a great Sunday, and I’ll see you next week.

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Thanks, TJ! OK, now on to the rest of today’s SMUW…

Memal’s 5 & 1

Following in the footsteps of the original “5 & 1,” Jim Vilk, Catherine Ryan after him, and finally Joe Ringham, for 2019 we have a new “5 & 1” (five good looking and one stinker) uni-vs-uni matchups — Michael “Memal” Malinowski. Like Joe, Catherine & Jim, Memal will pick HIS 5 best looking/1 awful matchup, and occasionally have some honorable mentions (both good and bad). You may agree and you may disagree — these are, after all, just opinions and everyone has one. Feel free to let him know what you think in the comments section.

Here’s Memal

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It was a great Saturday of college football; an early upset and some later game late game heroics. All and all, a typical autumn weekend that leaves you hungry for more!

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Honorable mention: Mississippi State @ Tennessee

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5. Memphis @ Temple

I usually don’t care for the tiger stripe helmet pattern, but the contrast of those stripes against the bold block panels for the Owls made this a game I kept flicking back to. The lack of blue for Memphis kept me from moving this game above the bottom slot.

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4. Colorado @ Oregon

I love the Buffaloes in gold/white/black on the road, especially since it contrasts nicely against the mono yellow combo of the Ducks. Not the best look for Oregon, but I admit it’s a personal favorite and I was happy to see it against another good looking uni-set.

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3. Appalachian State @ Louisiana-Lafayette

I would not have been able to describe either of these team’s uniforms before today, but I loved the difference between the traditional stripe pattern of the Ragin’ Cajuns against the short stripes and bright colors of the Mountaineers. A great looking game and I’ll be checking on these teams in the weeks to come.

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2. Texas vs Oklahoma @ the Cotton Bowl

College football is about traditions and this as traditional a matchup as there is. Texas wore their burnt orange home jerseys and the Sooners their away white. Just a great game in a great venue between two teams who knew what we wanted to see out on the field and gave it to us.

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1.Utah @ Oregon State

In a weekend where no particular uni matchup blew me away, I was smitten by all the details in this matchup. The beaver with the sailor hat helmet decals, some great uniform stripes, a gray October day in Oregon. Not much of a game, but every picture I pulled made me wish I’d watched it beginning to end. That’s reason enough for me to put it at the top this week.

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And because someone has to be the sacrificial lamb…

&1 Maryland at Purdue

Since Maryland went to Under Armour and debuted their state of Maryland flag helmets I’ve been unable to determine if that’s a good look or if it’s so garish you can’t take your eyes off of it. It seems there’s no middle ground and it’s really depended on their performance and their opponent. This week against Purdue, who attempted to look like anything but a Boilermaker or a Purdue sports teams, the Terrapins looked bad competitively and aesthetically. On the other hand, Purdue just looked really bad and out of touch with who their program really represents.

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Thanks Memal! You can follow Memal on the Twitter and let him know what you think of his choices or make a 5 & 1 suggestion of your own!

NCAA Uni Tracking

Uni Watch will again track the uniform combinations worn by the “Power 5” conferences. All of the 2018 trackers are back!

We’ve got Rex Henry (tracking the ACC), Dennis Bolt (tracking the PAC-12), Kyle Acker (tracking the Big XII), and Ethan Dimitroff (tracking the B1G AND the SEC). Rex, Dennis, and Kyle and are all returning from 2015, and Ethan is back after joining the NCAA Uni Tracking a couple seasons ago. Ethan continues his dual role of tracking both the B1G and the SEC.

Here are the Uni Trackers for the Power 5 Conferences:

+ + + + + + + + + +

Rex is up first today (ACC):

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ACC

More Here.
Follow Rex on Twitter here.
And (new for 2019!) — check out Rex’ Weekly Update.

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And now, here’s Dennis with the PAC-12:

PAC-12

More here.
Follow Dennis on Twitter here.

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And here is Ethan, with the SEC:

SEC

And be sure to check out Ethan’s WVU Mountaineer Tracker.
Follow Ethan on Twitter here.

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And here is Kyle with the Big XII:

Big XII

Follow Kyle on Twitter here.

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And here’s Ethan with the B1G:

B1G

Welcome to the 2019 Oregon Ducks Uni Tracker. This little project was originally begun way back in 2008-09 by Michael Princip, who retired after several seasons, whereupon the project was continued by Tim E. O’Brien. He, too, retired from the tracking, but the project has been ably kept up by the man who also tracks the Pac12, Dennis Bolt.

Here’s this week’s Uniform Combo for the Ducks (you can click to enlarge):

You can read about this uniform, and MUCH MORE, by checking out the Duck Tracker here!

Thanks Dennis!

MLB Playoff Uni Tracking

A few years back, reader Alex Rocklein tracked the MLB Playoffs by uniform — you guys may recall this. Here’s what his 2010 Uni Tracking looked like. Alex also tracked the playoffs for Uni Watch last season as well. Here’s how the 2016 World Series looked, here’s how the 2017 Playoffs shook out, and here’s the 2018 Playoffs.

Alex is back once again for the 2019 MLB Playoffs. We’re all up to date now, with the 2 NLCS and one ALCS games in the books Here we go:

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Wild Card & LDS Games

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Full Tracking

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Thanks, Alex.

Uni Watch News Ticker
By Phil

Baseball News: Tweeter JB notes “not quite uni related but I found it humorous how Google translates former MLB pitcher Al Albuquerque’s name the website for the Mexican League @AcererosOficial roster. At first I thought #62 joined the Isotopes.” … Here’s a look at the logo for the Taiwan Series (from Jeremy Brahm). … Check out this fantastic photo of Don Drysdale pitching to Yogi during Game 3 of the 1963 World Series (from Ronnie Bolton). … During last night’s Yankees/Astros ALCS game, Astros P Ryan Pressley had RIP DAD stitched into his glove (from Mike Chamernik). … Sean Doolittle’s light sabre has a bat knob & a sticker on it (from bryanwdc).

NFL/CFL News: From Wade Heidt comes this observation: “The Calgary Stampeders wore their alternate black Outlaw uniforms for the second time this season in their West Division first place showdown against Saskatchewan on Friday night. This is the second time this version of the black alternate has been worn with the red primary helmet, now that the CFL has change to one shell rule this year. However, there is a difference on Friday night compared to when the Stamps wore this uniform earlier in the season. Earlier this year during their Labour Day Classic, they had an alternate decal on the helmet when they wore the black uniforms. (Wearing a chrome horse logo).” He continues, “For the game Friday night, it was their primary helmet decal featuring the usual white horse trimmed in black.” … The Arizona Cardinals will be playing in black jerseys for the first time this season when they host the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.

College/High School Football News: Reader Michael McLaughlin writes, “There are times I’m glad I’m colorblind,” with regard to this article: Vols fans react to Nike, Tennessee collaboration that’s the “wrong UT orange”. In the words of Rick Perry, “Oops.” … On Friday night, Peoria High School wore jerseys with a “thin blue line”> (from Josh Claywell). More here. … Because we need another ranking, right? Here’s how someone thinks the ACC stacks up. … The amazing Blaise D’Sylva continues his helmet history with your West Virginia Mountaineers. … Interesting logo “theft” here involving a Texas high school using Buffalo Sabres logos (from Chris Mycoskie).

Hockey News: “Since it is October we will be seeing a lot of pink,” observes Wade Heidt. “The Salmon Arm Silverbacks wore pink uniforms on Friday night while hosting the Chilliwack Chiefs. Pink The Rink night. Made for an interesting colour vs. colour game of pink against the Chiefs’ dark red.” … “As God intended…” Last night, the Carolina Hurricanes wore white at home, their only time this season to do so (from Canes Uniform Tracker). … New uniforms for the ECHL’s Utah Grizzlies (from Jeff Tasca). In fact, most of the ECHL teams have new unis (these are all from Jeff): Allen Americans, Rapid City Rush, Jacksonville Icemen, Greenville Swamp Rabbits, Atlanta Gladiators, Orlando Solar Bears, Brampton Beast, Newfoundland Growlers, Reading Royals, Indy Fuel, and the South Carolina Stingrays. … Well, at least they got the logo of the Jets’ opponent correct (from Tim O’Brien). … From Jakob Fox comes this: the LA Kings are using a different logo to identify whose player hoodie is whose. Both logos use a different font than what is on their jerseys. It appears the older logo is still on the hats. … “Colorado College with two downgrades this year,” states Patrick Thomas. “New white helmets, that really make the home look worse actually, and then maybe the biggest downgrade is the yellow jerseys, a classic, to a gray for gray sake and white helmet for no reason. 1st 2 pics are last year.” … UMD’s goalie is sporting the rare Captaincy patch (from @JBeck132).

NBA/College Hoops News: “I’m so used to NCAA rule that T-shirt has to be jersey color, that this is jarring,” observes James Gilbert. … The University of Virginia Cavaliers, who won the NCAA hoops champeenship this past spring, are selling these medallions(?) in commemoration of that achievement (also from James Gilbert).

Soccer News: As always, our friend Josh Hinton was very busy with the soccer news yesterday. Be sure to check out his twitter feed for all your soccer kit news and needs. … New logo for the Port Adelaide Football Club (from @ThirdKit).

Grab Bag: There’s a new look for Italian women’s volleyball team Imoco Volley Conegliano for the 19-20 season (from Jeremy Brahm). … Ooohhh: Spotted in the Museum of Mississippi History: an old varsity football sweater of Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College (from Adam Vitcavage). … In more volleyball news from Jeremy Brahm, it lt looks like Errea is still using mini serifs with some team numbers.